


Hunk Ponders Philosophy… And Food

by sanbika



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crushes, M/M, Pining Hunk (Voltron), Romance, Sneaky Lance, Wooing, lewd implications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2019-05-05 21:17:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14627219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanbika/pseuds/sanbika
Summary: There was a face Lance made that churned Hunk’s stomach a little and dried out his mouth. And, lucky for him, Hunk knew just what he needed to do to see it.





	Hunk Ponders Philosophy… And Food

There was a face Lance made that churned Hunk’s stomach a little and dried out his mouth. And, lucky for him, Hunk knew just what he needed to do to see it.

It was just a coincidence, really, that Hunk knew how to make Lance do it, but not an uncommon one. It was a habit someone who had known lean times most of his life might not know he did.

And it was connected to food, which Hunk loved and wanted everyone to enjoy and appreciate. His family had always grown their fruit and vegetables, cooked together, sat down to eat together and lingered talking over their meals for hours before cleaning up the table and kitchen as a unit. Food, Hunk believed, could change lives. (He sometimes wondered if the Galra ever actually, you know, eaten panipopo, pork buns or puligi… mmmm puligi. Maybe if they just tried it, they wouldn’t be so hellbent on universal domination and be a little more chill.)

Hunk first noticed it some time ago, at the Garrison when they had all been stuffing their faces with whatever sludge the school had deemed nutritionally sufficient for growing teens in a rigorous training program. It usually consisted of rice, pasta, or potatoes, a couple of defrosted protein choices and canned excuses for vegetables. The cadets had no choice but to clear their plates, as hungry as they were.

Sometimes, Hunk reflected, there had been a sweet provided, but not often. Usually fruit, which was gone quickly. Vitamins were given to them daily, so it wasn’t exactly like the teens were trying to avoid scurvy when they crowded around the fruit baskets and ate every single piece. It was just the only fresh food available, and frequently the sweetest. Despite the lack of variety - out-of-season apples, green bananas and the occasional under-ripe melon - the cadets ate it up. (Hunk always wondered why the heck a school like the Garrison needed to cut costs on food but then he considered the mechanical, fuel, and insurance expenses and gulped before letting that tiny resentment go.)

On very special occasions, like an anniversary or holiday, the cadets would eat a baked treat or dessert, and the cafeteria was usually a madhouse with students trying to schmooze or weasel their way into second helpings even though they weren’t really that amazing - usually a simple cake or pie, fruit crisp, brownie or rice pudding. Not that Hunk was checking.

It was the anniversary of the founding of the Garrison that Hunk first saw the expression that made him feel all - melty, that was a feeling right? The cadets had been grousing about training, or maybe gossiping about old things, probably the Kerberos mission or Keith washing out, those were unfortunately popular. A lot of the kids liked to rile Pidge up since he was so vocal about his opinions and always hinted at knowing things the other clods were too stupid to see.

Normally Lance would direct the chaos with a teasing rebuttal delivered with his classic smirk (and really, his teeth just always seemed sparkling white, which was why he did it so often. Or so Hunk surmised.) But that night he had been strangely quiet, staying in the background and keeping to himself. Normally that would cause concern or at least some sarcastic inquiries but no one seemed to notice. When Hunk turned to look at Lance, he drew in a quick breath and bit his lip to avoid calling attention to himself by gasping.

Lance was eating the brownie. Still. Almost ten minutes after everyone had finished, Lance was taking the smallest of bites and closing his eyes in appreciation (for a brownie that just wasn’t fudgy enough to compare to his mom’s, not that Hunk was complaining because, you know, brownie). But he knew that action and that face. He had done it himself when he came to the school. It was how someone who had grown up poor ate something they didn’t normally eat - like chocolate or the one time they had all eaten freshly roasted turkey.

Hunk had mostly stopped doing that at the school - his food came regularly even though it wasn’t great. But his mom and dad had taught him to appreciate what was on his plate and he began to eat what had been exotic, at the time, treats with more frequency than he was used to.

He didn’t know why but seeing his best friend quiet and secretly enjoying a dessert that that everyone else had mostly gulped down did funny things to him. Hunk looked away as Lance opened his eyes not wanting to be caught outright staring. For one thing, his stomach felt like it has gone through a couple of simulator rounds and for another, his face was feeling warm and red.

Hunk peeked over at Lance only to see him licking the very last brownie crumbs off of his fingers and lips, eyes closed again. He swallowed and shot up from the table, “I, uh, have to go to the bathroom, so I’m just gonna do that… now…” As he made his getaway he couldn’t help catching Lance’s skeptical blue eyes before ducking his head and literally running for cover.

He hadn’t been able to sleep for a few hours puzzling over why Lance eating that dumb brownie had had such a powerful effect on him. He had kind of known about Lance’s large family and knew that Lance stressed about his scholarship money and keeping his grades up. Maybe it had been seeing him in a state of rest or enjoyment? Lance didn’t often let his carefully constructed walls down. But Hunk wanted to see him like that again.

——————————

He began an experiment. It was almost a challenge. What could make Lance take that rest from his boisterous and probably exhausting charisma and just chill? (Which was kind of a philosophy where he was from.)

Another side of Hunk also just liked the aesthetics of Lance peacefully licking his lips but that was totally besides the point. No, this was a duty of friendship and being a brother in arms. He had a duty to his pilot to help him relax and be zen and feel good and lick his… Off topic again.

So he observed and he changed the variables, like any good engineer would. Rice pudding on Labor Day didn’t have the same effect, although Lance ate it with gusto and declared it shitty compared to his abuela’s. He didn’t bother with the pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving or the yellow cake with buttercream on Christmas. “Pumpkin blah, if I ate a bar of soap, it would have more flavor,” the tall boy griped. The cake was too sweet, way too sweet, and Lance didn’t want to risk cavities on something that was all sugar and no spice.

Hunk bought nougat or caramel candy bars - and occasionally “borrowed” some from Pidge. Lance liked those better but he didn’t really get into them, preferring to take a piece and punching him on the shoulder as a sign of gratitude.

Until now, Lance hadn’t really noticed, being somewhat unobservant about people. But he eventually smirked at Hunk’s constant offerings, joking that he didn’t want to get chubby. That had also done something to Hunk and he couldn’t help but blurt out, “Well even if you were chubby, which you’re totally not, you would still look great.” Lance stopped at that before throwing a big grin on his face and his arm around his friend’s shoulder, “Huuuunk, you flatterer. This is why we are going to dominate the other teams.” The teen just did his best to keep his eyes forward and not gawk at the pretty blush on his pilot’s cheeks.

——————————

Being in space had thrown all that off until tonight when he had been helping Coran prepare dinner. He had picked up some little red berries from a planet a couple of missions ago that he hadn’t tried yet and when he had, had made his heart race.

They were drier than he expected, not juicy but almost like the texture of jicama. But the flavor was unmistakable - chocolate. And not the weak candy-bar-coating milky kind. This was an earthy fairly spicy dark cocoa. This was the kind that made Lance pause and remember something happy…

Hunk had scanned them to be sure they were safe and he did it again to double check. No way was he going to give Lance and the team something that would make them sick. He couldn’t wait until dinner.

——————————

Dinner had passed - the space goo had been eaten with gratitude if not enthusiasm. Now everyone was talking quietly in small groups in that contented way that made him remember home.

It surprised him that this kind of post-meal happiness was possible from something as disappointing as space goo. Maybe the quality of the food didn’t matter so much as the group you were with and the care you all had for each other. Hunk would have to think about that later. (It kind of made sense if he considered the Galra, they were definitely not having family dinners.)

Coran had brought out the berries with gusto as dessert hadn’t been a thing on Altea. “You can’t have everything,” he had said with great humor as he tapped on the Castle Ship’s hull. The Paladins and Allura had all dug into the fruit enjoying it in their own special way.

Pidge was questioning the berries, curious about whether they could grow them somehow while Keith popped them in his mouth and remarked that dinner had to be better if they could grow their own food. Coran was attempting to defend Altean cuisine while Shiro and Allura laughed with hushed amusement, heads bent together.

Hunk gulped before he turned to Lance, to see the face he had been waiting months for. And he wasn’t disappointed. Lance was relaxed and quiet, rolling the chocolate-berry in his mouth, savoring the flavor (Hunk was not going to focus on that, nope, not at all). But his eyes were open and surprisingly gentle.

The teen leaned so he was resting on Hunk’s side, head just shy of his shoulder. When Hunk looked down, he bit his lip realizing that his pilot (he couldn’t stop thinking of Lance as his pilot, even though they were all pilots now) was cuddling next to him. Lance met his gaze and swallowed before smirking at him, “Thanks man. How’d you know that I love dark chocolate?” His mischievous blue eyes hinted that maybe Lance had been onto him for a while now.

The Samoan teen fought valiantly against the blush currently burning his ears and cheeks and tried not to choke on the berry. That dark chocolate line had really got him.. flustered. It occurred to him that while his best friend clearly loved chocolate that maybe Hunk had been tricked into sort of accidentally complimenting and courting him somehow. But as Lance rested his head down onto his bicep, Hunk found he didn’t mind. 

Only good things come from good food.

**Author's Note:**

> Finally importing my fics! I'm excited to post them here :)
> 
> Check out my [tumblr!](https://figandmelon.tumblr.com)


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